PARLIAMENTARY TOPICS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1550, 11 July 1885, Page 3

PARLIAMENTARY TOPICS.

j [From Oub own Ookkkspondbnx. ] I I 'j (Bt Telegraph.) i j Wellington, To-day. I After the tame conclusion of the MinisI terial crisis, it was only natural there I should come a preternatural calm in public I business, but that calm was'disturbed last I night when the Hon Mr Stout broughf i.» I his amendment to the Employment of FeI males Bill in Committee. This amend- | ment, while professing only to limit the I hours of labor of bat maids, would, if carI tied, have improved the class it was proI posed to benefit off the face of the earth. I The debate lasted till within half an hour I of midnight, and a large number of meraj hers aired their eloquence on a subject I in which they evidently felt strong inteI rest. The experience of representatives j concerning bats and barmaids as detailed in I last night’s speeches appeared to be tolerably extensive, and the Hebes of the hotels found an impassioned defender in Sir George Grey. Mr Pyko made, as usual, a pleasant relief with his humorous reference .to the jealous wives who bad signed a petition for depriving a deserving class of their employment. He said that if men went to bars where drink was served by girls, it showed their 1 good taste in preferring a pretty face to the ugly visage of a barman. Be characterised the clause as another proof of man’s meanness, and said that just as in early history man had said “ The woman gave me and 1 did eatnow they were saying “The woman gave and I did drink.” Mr Joyce poked fun at those who argned th«t the presence of barmaids in hotels demoralised youths, by pointing to Bellamy’s as an instance where there were no women, and yet a good deal of whisky was consumed there. If there were any demoralising to be done he failed to see why licensees’ wives and daughters should enjoy a monopoly. Altogether the debate was an amusing one, and the barmaids in the end gained a decided victory. They certainly bad to endure some hard knocks, bat their defenders had throughout the best of the eloquence on their side.